1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a fish paste product, for example, fish paste made to look like crab meat, and also pertains to a coloring nozzle which is suitable for use in this process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fish paste made to look like crab meat is generally produced by the following process:
A paste material is formed into a sheet through a forming nozzle having a long and narrow slit-shaped outlet. The sheet has cuts made in one surface to divide the material along the surface into fibers or strips extending in the longitudinal direction of the material. The thus cut sheet is wound or rolled into a rod-like shape, and this rod-like shape has a film having a dye coated on the inner surface thereof wound therearound. In this state, the rod-like shape is passed through a heater to transfer the dye to the surface of the rod-like shape. Thereafter, the rod-like shape is cut to a predetermined length and then packaged as fish paste (for example, see Japanese Patent Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 58-29065).
The above-described conventional process suffers, however, from the following problems:
To color the paste material, the prior art necessitates a complicated operation in which a dye is coated on the inner surface of a film and this film is wound around the rod-shaped material. Accordingly, the device required for this operation becomes complicated.
In this regard, there has been another prior art method in which the rod-shaped material is sprayed with a dye for coloring it (see Japanese Patent Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 55-124476).
However, this method creates a problem in that the sprayed dye splashes about.